


Line of Duty

by Fibi94



Series: Universe Delta [1]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: F/M, I'll always be, I'm still in denial about 2x10, Implied Seth/Emily in some later chapters, both Kendra and Alex are in the same car
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-01 14:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14522964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/pseuds/Fibi94
Summary: Alex and Kendra find themselves in the same car when the truck strikes [fix it fic for 2x10]





	1. Chapter 1

Alex takes a deep breath, she couldn’t believe that she was finally free from the nightmare that was her life the past few months, she can feel the tears filling up her eyes. She looks at the phone in her hands and debates whether or not to call Tom or just wait until she goes back home to tell him the good news. At the end she decides to call him, she can’t wait to tell him at home, she also knows that she’ll have him pinned to a wall or the bed before they can even say hello. To her disappointment the phone call goes straight to voice mail, she smiles sadly. “Hello Tom Kirkman’s voice mail, this is Tom Kirkman’s wife. Who is no longer the subject or target of a federal investigation.” She chuckles, “I beat it. We beat it.” She takes a deep breath the tears she feels them filling up her eyes, “And the only thing I want to say to you is… I love you. And I can’t wait to see what you’ve planned for our date tonight.” She stops looking right and left “Because what I have planned involves a new pair of Louboutin heels and your favorite shade of red lipstick.” She chuckles just imagining his reaction to that when he hears the voicemail, “I love you.” She hangs up, his picture flashes on her phone screen for a moment; she runs her finger over his tattoos on his arm for barely a second before the screen turns black.

Raising her head she sees Kendra walking to her, she puts on a smile, ignoring all other emotions that threaten to strangle her, “Kendra!”

“Are you ready ma’am?” Alex laughs, “Kendra you just helped me get rid of the biggest debacle,” she stops thinking over the last few months of her life, “Actually not the biggest but a pretty big one.” Kendra looks at her smiling, but she can see the question in her eyes, “What I’m saying is that you can call me Alex. And thank you.” She finds herself smiling genuinely to the other woman, she can clearly see why Tom is so font of her, the two of them aren’t that different from one another after all.

“No need to thank me just did my job and you did yours.” She says smiling, Alex nods, “True, damn I miss the court.”  She says shaking her head, she missed the depositions, the court, the debate, she missed everything too much.

“I know it’s addictive.” Kendra says smirking.

“It is.” Alex closes her eyes taking a deep breath, “Oh it so is!” the two of them start walking to the door, Alex looks at the three cars waiting for them, “You know why don’t you ride with me?” she asks Kendra.

“If you’d like to ma’am.” Kendra raises her hands in defense when she sees Alex ready to chew her out for calling her ma’am again. “Alex, sorry, Alex.” Alex narrows her eyes and walks in the car smiling to the agent holding the door open for her, “Get in!” she tells Kendra who was standing awkwardly, Kendra walks to the other side of the car and gets in, the door catches her attention, it doesn’t seem that armored to her and she remembers reading on one bill or another during her time at the appropriations committee as the junior attorney about all the protections these cars have, she shakes the thought from her head, it’s been almost five years since then, they sure have developed their technology enough to still keep the first family safe and not have to drive them around in tanks.

Both women got settled in for the fairly short drive back to the White House. “Where did you graduated from?” Alex asks her, Kendra smiles, “Georgetown.” She smiles and nods, “Good university, Leo is looking for universities, he hasn’t settled on what he wants to do. I already got about a dozen questions during the Christmas celebrations on where he’s going to be going to university.” Kendra looks at her with her eyes open wide, “Aren’t they a bit early.” She says sarcastically.

Alex turns to her and smirks, “Yeah, they see the president’s son, the first son, ignoring the fact that this is a child that was thrust into the spotlight less than a year ago and is still trying to figure out who he is.” She says turning her head outside the window.

Alex and Kendra barely had time to gasp before the truck plummeted onto their car…

* * *

 

Tom was watching at baby Grace, peacefully sleeping amongst the other babies, sucking on their thumbs, he always felt so at ease around babies and he wonders if he might be able to convince Alex to try for another kid, he knows they’re both getting older and with the weight of the world on his shoulders he wouldn’t be the most supportive father there is but he still finds himself wishing for another little human that looks like the perfect mix between them smiling back at him while he tries to get them to sleep, a little girl with her mother’s curls trying to walk to him, calling him dada as she tries to form her first words.

Mike’s hand on his arm urgently tagging him away breaks him away from his fantasy, “Mike what’s going on?” he asks his friend, his face is hard, no emotions peeking through as he pulls him forward, Tom finds his feet unable to hold their ground and he’s almost dragged forward.

“Sir just follow me!” Mike tells him not stopping pulling him,

“Mike!” Tom tries again but soon his entire detail are around him, some pulling him like Mike others pushing him forward and he doesn’t have a choice but to follow them absolutely terrified of what this might mean.

* * *

 

Kendra opens her eyes, the seatbelt touching her shoulder is making her yelp, she tries to release the belt and she manages with the third try, her arm is on fire and looking down she can see a big piece of glass stuck on her thigh. “Shit!” she mutters under her breath, looking up she sees Alex, her head is back leaning on the headrest, her eyes closed, “Mrs. Kirkman?” she tries, but Alex doesn’t move, “Alex?” she asks, the desperation clear on her voice, taking a better look on the woman’s face she can see the trail of blood down her forehead staining her blond hair. “Fuck!”

The door is thrown open and Daniel the head of Alex’s detail peeks inside, “Miss Daynes.” He says, his eyes turns to Alex, “Oh no!” she sees him gulping; he enters the car and gently puts his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Mrs. Kirkman!”

“I’m alive Daniel.” Alex mutters, Kendra releases a breath she wasn’t sure she was holding back, tears start falling down her eyes clouding her vision. “Ouch.” Alex says opening her eyes, “Seems like you guys hit a bump.” She jokes with Daniel.

The agent smiles back, “I know right?” he says getting out of the car to inform the other agents that are there, “We can’t move them, Miss Daynes maybe but definitely not the first lady.” He says to Lisa, one of the other agents on Alex’s detail, she was the first agent assigned to Alex so their bond was different than the rest, “The suspect?” She asks.

“In custody.”

“Didn’t try to run? Escape?” she’s surprised by that, they were taught that if there’s ever something as terrible the suspect would be on the run immediately, accidents do not happen to the secret service and yet here was Daniel telling her that their worse debacle was indeed just a random accident.

“I don’t think this was an attack, kid wet his pants.” He says, Lisa nods and leans in the car, “Mrs. Kirkman this is Lisa ma’am rescue is on its way, we have to wait for the fire department to get you out.” She says

“I need to tell Tom,” Alex tries but her voice betrays her, she closes her eyes and tries again “I need to tell Tom.”

“Agent Ritter will inform the president ma’am.” Lisa reassures her, she turns her attention to Kendra who was clutching her thigh as if she was trying to stop the blood seeping through her pants. “Miss Daynes can you move?”

“No, my leg is killing me.” She says, Lisa nods sirens are heard in the back moving closer and she breathes out in relief the more they are out on the road the more their failure hits them in the face.

“Alright, wait here I can hear the sirens.” She says and disappears; Alex turns to Kendra, “Kendra.” She says her name, her voice starts failing her, she can’t keep her eyes open for long anymore, Kendra suspects the head injury has something to do with it.

“Yeah?” she says.

“I want you to tell Tom I love him.” Alex manages to open her eyes and looks at Kendra, “You tell him yourself.” She says, “Don’t you dare give up on me now!” Alex smiles and closes her eyes again, winching as she slightly moves her body, “Alright.” She whispers.

* * *

 

Tom is forced in the car and then in a bunker he has never seen in his life, he looks around in shock, everything around him was spinning and he felt like throwing up from the speed everything was moving around him.

“MIKE!” he finally manages to get his feet to stop moving, he grips a railing that’s next to him and stands his ground. “Please tell me what the hell is happening?” he asks Mike who looks at him, the look on his face is one he never had seen before. It scares him so much but he won’t admit it.  “It’s the first lady sir, she was in a car accident protocol dictates that we need to secure the president.” Tom gasps when he hears him, Alex was in an accident? It makes everything around him spin twice as fast.  “Alex.” He murmurs her name, his knees buckle and he falls to his knees before Mike had a chance to hold him upright. “Oh no!” he mutters on his sleeve as he bites the fabric to stop the scream, “No, no, no, no.” he repeats to himself, he doesn’t even feel Mike’s arm around his shoulders as his friend kneels next to him, trying to shield him from the eyes of the other agents who just turned their backs to the two of them giving them some privacy. “Mike tell me it’s not true.” Tom turns to Mike, his eyes red, tears rolling down his face nonstop, “Mike is she alive?” he asks, Tom grips Mike’s lapel, he tries to shake him to do anything because Mike seemed to have lost his voice. “Tell me something!”

“I don’t have anything yet sir.” Mike says, he bites his lip, and Tom sees how red his eyes are, “I know she is alive although injured and are waiting for the fire department to move them.” Tom blinks a couple times, “Them?” he asks puzzled, “What you mean them?”

“It appears that Miss Daynes was riding in the same car sir.” Mike tells him, Tom looks at him, his eyes wide open as he gasps and finds himself unable to breathe well.

“I need to go there.” He whispers to himself, he turns to Mike who still has an arm wrapped around his shoulders. “Mike I need to go there!”

“I’m sorry sir I can’t allow this.” Mike says, it breaks his heart to refuse Tom he knows how distraught he is over this and he also know that this was probably the only way to calm his head.

“Mike!”

“I can’t allow it sir,”  Mike says shaking his head negatively again, he suspects that’s what his mentor meant when he told him that there will come a day when he will have to say no when all his instincts tell him to do the opposite.

 Tom uses both hands to clutch Mike’s lapels, “Mike I beg you, I can’t stay here, I need to see Alex I need to make sure she’s alive!” he says, his voice breaking as the word alive left his lips. Mike looks away, taking Tom’s hands from his jacket and holding them, “I know you do. But I cannot get you to the scene of the accident. As soon as I get word on which hospital they are sent I’ll drive you there myself if I have to.” Tom bites his lip, Mike let’s his hands go and Tom just hides his face in them, he takes a minute trying to pull himself together before removing his hands from his face, “Thank you Mike.” He says.

Mike smiles, “No need to thank me.” He says, he stops talking his hand goes to his ear, there’s a flashing smirk on his lips before responding, “Roger.” To whoever was on the other side, he turns to Tom, “It’s seems that it was an accident, the agents on the scene have apprehended the suspect.” He tells him, helping Tom up on his feet again, “Phoenix is moving back to the nest.” He informs command center over his intercom,  “Let’s go” this time Tom walks on his own to the elevator, no need for Mike to almost rip his arm while pulling him forward. They get in the elevator, Tom turns to Mike, “I need to call Eva, she needs to know.”

“I can send agents to get her.” Mike says nodding. Tom smiles, it feels unnatural on his face, forced and broken never reflecting actually on his eyes, “Yes please.” He says, the doors to the elevator open and he comes face to face with his staff waiting, “Sir we just heard!” Emily says.

“Emily.”

“Well?”

“She’s alive.” Tom says, Mike notices that this time the smile on his lips, no matter how small actually reflected on his eyes, “Thank god she’s alive.”

“Alive?” Emily asks shocked, a smile forms on her lips, “That’s great.”

“How about Kendra sir?” Aaron asks, “She was with the first lady wasn’t she?” Tom turns to him and puts a hand on his shoulder, “She’s alive as well Aaron.” he smiles widely.

“It’s a Christmas miracle sir.” Aaron says smirking, Tom shakes his head, few months back, before the presidency and all that followed he might have agreed but right now he finds himself not believing in miracles that much anymore.

“I wanna see her first before I celebrate.” He says Aaron nods but before he could talk Emily cuts him off, “Of course sir that would be wise.” Tom nods and turns to them, “If you don’t mind guys I’d like some time,” he tells them as he starts walking to the bedroom; he notices they started following him “Alone.” He tells them, they stop to their tracks.

“Of course!” Aaron said being the first who turned around and gave him the space he needed.

* * *

 

“Hey, you better not be giving up on me!” Alex smiled, opened her eyes to see the firefighter smiling at her, “I’m not.” She mutters, “I’ve never been happier to see a firefighter in my life.” She hears him chuckle

“Let’s get you to the hospital you two.”

* * *

 

Tom closes the door behind him and slides down; he’s pulling his knees up to his chest. He tries to take a deep breath, drew some air in his lungs, he realized that he had trouble breathing right now, all the pain and the emotions choking him. he couldn’t wrap his mind around everything happening right now, he wasn’t supposed to spend Christmas like that, ever since his birthday on the twentieth he and Alex were fighting, he was really looking forward to spending some time together, he had felt all this time that she was slipping from his fingers and now it feels like she’s actually slipping.

There's a soft knock on the door which startles him and he moves to the side, it takes him some time to stand up, his legs are a bit shaky, “Sir! They’re both on their way to G.W. your mother in law will be here in five if you want to wait for her.” he opens the door slightly, he looks at Mike puzzled, he knows he should wait for Eva but he finds himself unable to, “I…” he hates himself for that, he knows five minutes is not a long time but he can’t wait any longer, the thought that with every minute that passes by he might be closer to losing Alex is killing him, he just wants to go there, be with her. “I should but.” Mike smirks sadly; he puts his hand on his shoulder through the small opening of the door, “You don’t want to.” Tom nods no, Mike understands, he shakes his head and takes a deep breath. “I’ll inform her detail, you can give her a call later.” He says, Tom has never been more thankful for Mike than he is right now.

“Thank you Mike.” He whispers opening the door widely and letting Mike lead the way to the garage, “Yeah.” Mike mutters under his breath, Tom didn’t hear him, and Mike is thankful for that, he feels such guilt right now, such pain and anger that it felt ironic for the president to thank _him_ if anything he should be asking for his resignation. He was the first secret service agent in recent history that had a member of the first family almost murdered while under his watch. So what if the agents on scene said that it probably wasn’t a deliberate act? What if they said they were sure it was an accident? Something inside him was telling him that this wasn’t the case and he couldn’t shut it up no matter how much he tried.

* * *

 

The ride to the hospital was short, all the roads were emptied for them, of course they were, and after the accident D.C. P.D.. was taking no chances, Tom noticed how there were at least ten more police officers on the motorcade as well as many cop cars barricading the crossing streets. “Mike all this,” he says showing outside the window, “It must cause such hustle, doesn’t it?” Tom asks, Mike doesn’t look at him, he continues starring ahead, “It’s not my business sir, my business is to deliver you safely to the hospital and back to the White House.” He pauses and turns around, Tom sees the tears in his eyes “We failed once tonight, won’t have it happen again.” He turns his eyes back to the road ahead, “Can’t have it ever again” he murmurs under his breath as he sees the passing lights.

They get to the hospital and Tom had grew restless, he didn’t wait for Mike to clear the area, not even to open the door when he opened the door himself and just lounged outside, almost running to the underground entrance that was leading to the ER. Looking around he realized how empty everything looks right now, he realizes that they probably emptied the ER before bringing Alex in, he vaguely remembers scenes from when he was transferred in the very same hospital, the gurney speeding down the corridors, he remembers Alex standing against a wall, her beige coat stained with his blood, tears filling her eyes, he tried to stay awake for her, to keep a brave face for her but in the end he couldn’t, his eyes had betrayed him and he lost conscious. He doesn’t remember much from that day, if he asks Alex though she remembers ever excruciating detail and he wonders, is this how it’s gonna be for him this time? Will he stay awake for nights just to make sure she’s breathing? Will he find himself just checking her pulse in the middle of the night to calm himself after a nightmare? He knows the answer is probably yes to all.

He sees a nurse, she seems to be around sixty, her graying hair in a tight bun on the base of her head, for a moment there she reminds him of his mother but he shakes his head trying to remove the image from his mind, he doesn’t need any more pain right now. “Ma’am do you know anything about my wife?” he asks her, she looks up from some charts she was studying, he has to admit the similarities with his late mother were breathtaking, they both had the same eyes and nose, she smiles sadly, “I’m sorry sir, I’m not on your wife’s case, I’d like you to wait in the waiting room, I’ll have someone on her case to come out soon and inform you.” She puts a hand on his shoulder and smiles, it’s warm and it makes him calm down a bit for some reason, “I wouldn’t worry if I were you; your wife is a tough nut to crack.”

“Yeah.” He whispers, the tears burning his skin as he tries to give a small shaky smile to the woman who just turns around and disappears around a corner.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Tom lost his sense of time as he was sitting in the waiting room, everything was just too white around him and it was nauseating, there’s also such silence around him that makes him wanna scream just to break it. He knows Mike is waiting outside the door for him; it strikes him as such a weird thing that he’s staying away. He thinks how Alex would know the answer and chokes, what would he do without her? She was the smarter one in this relationship; she was the one who knew far more than he did on any given issue.  “Sir, I’m Doctor Carson, I’m one of the physicians in your wife’s case.” Tom jumps up from the uncomfortable plastic chair and walks to the doctor. He was about forty years old, his brown hair started graying, his eyes were dulling, he had black circles under them, Tom couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blood stains on his pant leg, he doesn’t know why but his eyes just keep returning to this spot. “Doctor, how is she?” he asks, finally managing to tear his eyes away from the blood stain.

“She needs surgery sir, there’s a variety of injuries, some more threatening than the others, we conducted some tests and there is sign of internal bleeding, we need to get her in surgery right now. Other than that, I expect her to make a full recovery. It won’t be easy, but she’ll live.” Tom takes a step back, he blinks, not sure what to say, how exactly to react, there was something telling him that this was almost too good to be true but the happiness and relief he was feeling was so overwhelming, “Thank you so much” Tom just hugs the doctor, he’s taken aback by it “Best news I’ve heard all day.” He feels tears filling his eyes again, this time filled with happiness, the doctor smirks, “Well not a big task sir, it’s just one am.” He says showing the clock on the wall behind him, Tom turns around and looks at it, “True.” He says smiling; his face falls pretty fast though when he remembers that he’ll probably have to sign papers. “Do I need to sign anything for the surgery?” he doesn’t remember ever having to do anything like it, not even when Alex gave birth, she, even in labor, was handling all the paperwork.

“Yes sir, the nurse will bring you all the needed paperwork.” Tom nods and mutters, “Thank you. Is there any chance I could see her?” Doctor Carson looks at him with a look of regret in his eyes, “I’m afraid not sir, we’re prepping her for surgery,” he was ready to complain, tell him how Alex was allowed to come in his room when he was shot, but stops, he wonders would she be allowed in if he wasn’t the president or if he had gotten shot without her by his side, he bites his tongue and just nods looking away. The doctor nods back and turns to leave the room, Tom feels like electricity hit him, “Doctor, there was another person that came in with my wife, Miss Daynes how is she?” he asks, the doctor seemed puzzled for a moment before asking, “Kendra Daynes right?”

“Yes.”

“She’s good, she’s awake she has some injuries and we’ll have to keep her for a couple days but she’s awake if you want to visit her, the nurse will be able to tell you in which room she is in.” the doctor says, Tom breaths out, he almost feels guilty not looking for Kendra earlier, he knows that she wouldn’t mind about that, Kendra would understand but he still feels guilty, he knows that she’s probably alone in a hospital room after a car accident that nearly killed her on Christmas eve of all nights of the year. 

“Thank you again, so much. Merry Christmas doctor.” The doctor smiles and nods, “Merry Christmas to you too sir.” He says before turning around and disappearing. Tom picks up his coat from the chair next to the one he was using and starts walking to the nurses’ station, he knew that Doctor Carson said that a nurse would bring him the paperwork but he found the beige in the walls of the waiting room to be suffocating and he needed to change his view, somehow. He sees a nurse, she’s a woman around her fourties, she’s reading over some charts not noticing him walking closer, Tom stands in front of her, “Excuse me, Doctor Carson told me you had some paperwork for me to sign?” he asks her, she looks up slightly startled that he was there.

“Yes sir, here.” She says giving him a binder, Tom smiles awkwardly, and moves away, “I’m sorry, I just, could you tell me in which room Kendra Daynes is in?” he asks, he finds himself fidgeting, he doesn’t know why, “Of course sir, she’s in room 215” she tells him after looking it up quickly on the computer.

“Thank you, I’ll get you these as soon as I finish them.” He says taking the binder with him and walking towards where Kendra’s room was.

He finally finds it and stands outside the door, taking a deep breath he opens the door and walks inside Kendra is lying on a bed, the white hospital gown is making her seem much sicker than Tom expected. She hears the door opening and opens her eyes, “Sir?” she says trying to sit up Tom smiles and uses his hand to gently ease her back on the bed.

“Kendra, how are you?” he asks her sitting down next to her,

“I’m good sir, how’s A.” she stops herself, momentary forgetting that she was talking to the president this time, her boss, “How’s the first lady?” Tom smirks, he noticed Kendra’s slip of the tongue, he knew that she and Alex had gotten a lot closer than they were when Kendra first came in the White House and he couldn’t be more thankful for that, he loved and respected Kendra and her opinions a lot, almost as much as those of some of his older staff like Emily, Aaron and Seth.

“She’s in surgery, they wouldn’t let me see her, do you mind if I stay here, till she’s out of it?” he asks her, it’s not much of a question, they both knew that, after all he was already settled on the chair next to her bed, Kendra wouldn’t admit it but she was glad for it, memories of her past kept invading her mind, such an irony that she almost died in a car accident again, but she was also glad that Alex was still alive, she wouldn’t know what to do if she had died. She wouldn’t be able to handle loosing just another person she cares about in a car accident where she survives and they die. “No, of course not.” She tells him, he gets more comfortable on the chair and smiles, “Thank you.” He says looking down on the binder the nurse had given him, all the legal language made him dizzy, “What the hell are all those?” he asks looking them over, Kendra laughs and extends her right hand.

“Let me take a look.”

* * *

 

Tom sat back silently watching Kendra going over all the paperwork, she occasionally stooped scribbling asking him a question either about Alex’s social security or previous medical procedures, “Here” she tells him giving him the binder, “I can’t thank you enough Kendra.”

“Yeah, no problem” she says smiling, Tom takes the papers, leaving his coat behind, he finds the same nurse sitting behind the same desk, “Here you go.” He tells her giving her the binder.

“Thank you sir.”

Tom nods he starts mindlessly walking back to Kendra’s room when it hits him that he hasn’t informed Eva yet, he was about to call her when his screen flashes and Leo’s picture appears, “Leo.”

“Dad, what’s going on? How’s mom?” he asks, Tom feels so guilty not having informed them sooner, he knows his delay has probably caused all the stress and anxiety he can clearly hear on his son’s voice.

“She’s in surgery right now, there was some internal bleeding from the accident.” Tom says, Leo gasps from the other side, Tom can actually hear it, “She needed surgery?” he asks, Tom bits his lip, “Yeah, but the doctors won’t tell me much.” He answers, there’s a silence between them, “Is she gonna be ok?” Leo asks after a while, Tom can sense that he has so many things he would like to scream at him but he’s holding back. “They think so.” Tom changes the subject as fast as he could; last thing he could deal with right now is Leo’s rage which he could feel brewing against him for weeks if not months now. “How’s Penny?” he asks, he almost feels bad not giving Leo the chance to tell him exactly what he wanted but he acts selfishly realizing fully well that’s the reason why Alex is a much better parent than him. The thought he’d have to parent without her sends a chill down his spine.

“Grandma didn’t tell her anything, she’s still sleeping.” Tom smiles sadly Eva was right not to wake Penny up, last thing he needed was to worry the little girl when he didn’t have any answers for her yet.

“Good, good. I don’t want to worry her.”

“I wanna see her.” Leo tells him, Tom hears it, it’s not a question, he can hear Alex so vividly in his voice it makes him shiver

“I know,” he says, a short silence fell between them when Tom spoke again, “Can you get grandma on the phone?”

“Sure.” Leo says reluctantly, he still wanted an answer, Tom knew that.

“How is Alex?” She asks him before he manages to get a word out.

“She’s in surgery, the doctor didn’t tell me much, other than that she needed surgery due to some internal bleeding, he said that she’ll make it through.” She breaths out in relief, he hopes her harsh tone will change when she speaks again even though he knows it won’t, “I’ll sent Mike to get Leo and bring him here, how’s Penny?” he asks, dreading her reaction.

“Penny is asleep, I’ll stay here with her, I don’t think she should visit Alex yet.” She says, Tom is surprised that she doesn’t scream at him, or that her voice is softer. He fully expected the harsh accusing tone he heard before. “You’re right,” of course she was, he wasn’t comfortable even letting Leo see Alex, he hadn’t seen her, he didn’t know how she was but he could imagine and Penny was too young to see it. “They didn’t even let me see her.” he murmurs.

“You better take care of her, I can’t lose her too.” The harsh tone is back, it makes Tom’s heart break just a little bit more, Eva was right and he understood, Alex was her only child, and after losing her husband she had devoted all she had in Alex. But she forgot that Alex was his life as well, they might have patched things up a little since he became president but she still doesn’t seem to think he was good enough for Alex. She hangs up the phone before Tom has a chance to answer. And what could he say? That she was his life? Didn’t she know that already? That she was the mother of his kids and his life would be half empty without her there? Wasn’t that a given? So he found himself holding the phone in his hand, unsure what to do, the dial tone ringing in his ears.

* * *

 

Tom couldn’t go back to Kendra’s room; he doesn’t know why, he finds himself pacing up and down the corridor.

“Sir?” he turns around startled, Doctor Carson is standing there, he looks slightly grimmer than he remembers him, “Doctor finally. What’s going on?” he asks, there’s a small smile on his face which falls when he sees the look on the doctor’s face.

“Well I got good news and bad news.” He says, Tom loses his step and uses the wall behind him to stabilize himself so he won’t hit the ground, from the corner of his eye he can see Mike moving forward the moment he lost his step, he feels grateful to his friend “The good news are that the first lady is out of surgery, We managed to repair all the damage on her abdomen, we found the internal bleeding and fixed it, she also suffered three fractured ribs, a dislocated shoulder, broken left arm and leg as well as a severe concussion, she also had a collapsed lung, all of which we took care. The bad news is that it seems that the first lady has fallen in a coma.” He gasps, everything around him spinning, he doesn’t know how to deal with what he just heard. He thought Alex was going to be ok, he was expecting to walk into her room after surgery and find her awake, smiling at him. Now the reality was so vastly different that he had trouble comprehending it. “What?” he asks dumbfound.

“Sir,” the doctor starts, Tom feels such anger like almost never before, “You said she’ll be fine.” He says interrupting him, every emotion bubbling under the surface explodes, “You said she’ll be fine!” he screams, he doesn’t care who might be listening or the fact that he probably shouldn’t have yelled in a hospital. All he cares is what the doctor told him, the word ‘coma’ running in his mind, spinning around again and again.

“And she will sir, we don’t have any evidence that she has permanent brain damage.” Tom stops and looks at him, his eyes narrowing, there’s a lot of things he want to say to the man right now, he knows somewhere deep down that he should listen to him but he doesn’t want to do that any longer.

“Where’s my wife?”

“Room 250”

* * *

 

Tom finds himself standing outside the room looking at the closed blinds, they are obstructing his view in the room, which he is thankful for right now. He takes his time before opening the door and walking inside the room. Alex is lying on the bed, if he took out the breathing tube going down her throat and the bruises and cuts he could almost believe she was just sleeping, and he, again, woke up earlier on his way to work. But she wasn’t, there was a cast on her arm and another on her leg. “Alex!” her name falls from his lips, just as a sob breaks free from his throat. He sits down on the chair next to her bed and takes her right in his, “I’m so sorry,” he says kissing her fingers, her skin smells like the hospital and now he can understand what she was complaining about when he was in hospital less than a year ago. “This is all my fault; I shouldn’t have taken the job,” he says not able to hold the tears back, he looks up, the tears blinding him and yet through them he could still see her, he uses one of his hands to push back her hair, not realizing that her bangs had grew enough to fall in her eyes.

“Please wake up, please.” He murmurs on her hand, “You can’t leave me, please.” The tears rolling down his face are burning their trail on his face; he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able not to feel them there.

“I love you so much.” He says, he hates himself that he went so long without telling her, he finds himself unable to remember the last time he told her he loved her. He promises to himself that when she wakes up he won’t let a day go by without him telling her exactly how much he loves her.

* * *

 

Mike comes in the room, if he’s shocked by how Alex looks he hides it pretty well “Leo’s agents are pulling in the building sir.”

“Mike, thank you.” He says, he saw in the room holding Alex’s hand for almost an hour now dreading the moment Leo would come, he is not on his son’s top ten list at the moment, he doesn’t blame him, not really, he doesn’t even like himself at the moment.

He puts on a brave face and leans over placing a small kiss on her forehead “Leo is here, I’m gonna go meet him at the door and bring him here.” He pulls back, stupidly waiting to see her awake smiling at him but she isn’t. It feels like a slap on the face but he ignores it, or at least he tries to as he turns around and walks outside the room, he wipes a tear that escaped from his eyes walking to the entrance, he barely managed to get to the elevator when the doors opened revealing a worried Leo, to his surprise his son hugs him, “Dad!” Tom wraps his arms around his son as tightly as he could.

“Leo.” He pulls back and looks at his dad, for the most powerful man on earth he’s pretty powerless right now. His son is pulling back from him, his wife is laying unconscious on a bed and he’s standing here barely able to keep himself up.

“Where’s mom?” Leo asks Tom nods, “Come with me.” He says and starts walking to Alex’s room. He stops outside and puts his hands on Leo’s shoulders, stopping him from opening the door. “Before we go in I wanna warn you.” He knows his words won’t change his decision to come see Alex. “She’s on a ventilator, she-.” Leo cuts him off, “Dad, it’s ok.”

Tom nods and opens the door, if Leo is shocked by how Alex looks he doesn’t show it, he walks to her and sits where Tom was sitting before, “Hey mom.” He says taking her hand in his, Tom starts walking to the other side, he notices that her ring isn’t there, but he doesn’t pay much attention as of why right now, the doctors probably took it out to put her arm in a cast, he knows personal belongings are somewhere in the room and he’ll have to find them before she wakes up. “I thought you’d like some more company. It’s Christmas after all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Tom wakes up and looks around, the blinding light coming from the window in front of him is blinding, he can feel his neck killing him from the pain, his back aches as he sits up. This is the third night he spends sleeping on this god-awful chair using Alex’s hand as a pillow.

He managed to find her personal belongings but none was in a condition for her to use again, her clothes obviously bloody and cut from the doctors when she came in, her watch broken and her ring now nothing more than a twisted piece of metal with many of the small diamonds missing, finally explaining the stitches she needed on her ring finger as well. There’s only four days to this year and he can’t wait for it to be over, in just one year he was sworn president, got shot, found himself in the middle of a major conspiracy which wanted him dead and now Alex was in a coma. He dreads to think what the next year will hold. Although he knows, it holds elections, both congressional and presidential. It makes him dizzy he tries not to think about them but the pundits are already speculating on who will run. Even staffers start resigning, not in large numbers but they are, junior staffers and some senior too, Emily tells him, jokingly, that by the summer it will be just the two of them working in the White House.

He chuckles and turns to Alex, he doesn’t know why he expects anything different than what he knows he’ll see, probably because all he can do is hope.

* * *

 

Tom walks to Kendra’s room when the doctors kicked him out, he finds Kendra sleeping peacefully on the bed, she looks a little sicker to him, he sits down next to her on a similar plastic chair, almost scared to touch her hand.

“Sir?” she wakes up and says, her voice drowsy from sleep. “Hey Kendra.”

“Doctors kicked you out?” she asks a small smirk on her lips as she tries to get more comfortable in bed. Tom nods, “Yeah, and I thought about visiting you it’s been since the accident.”

“It’s very thoughtful of you sir.” She says.

“How are you?” he asks, Tom finally gathering the guts to reach for her hand. It’s a little too warm to touch but he ignores it.

“I'm getting there sir.” He chuckles. “Kendra please, not in here.”

“Not in here?” she asks she suspects what he’s asking of her but she’s not sure she could do it.

“It’s just the two of us Kendra, you can call me Tom.”  Kendra smiles nervously, “You and Alex are bad influences.” This makes Tom laugh, she’s a little taken aback, she doesn’t remember ever seeing him laugh like that.

“Andrea, Alex’s roommate from college called us that.” He looks ahead reminiscing of the past.

“I thought you and Alex were together for seventeen years?” she asks, she clearly remembers Alex talking about getting married in a courthouse while she was five months pregnant after dating for only six months, she guesses she could still have kept contact with her college roommate but something doesn’t sit well.

“Well the second time around. First time we started dating when,” he stops “Well Alex was still in high school.” He says, she notices he seems a bit embarrassed, it intrigues her.

“How old was she?”

“Sixteen, told me she had turned seventeen.”

“And you were?” she asks. Tom chuckles “Well twenty one.”

“Shit!” she says before managing to catch herself.

“Well we knew each other for three years at this point.” He bites his lip, he doesn’t know why Kendra makes him feel so comfortable talking about his and Alex’s past, this wasn’t something he was comfortable with, period. “She always tells me, I was the least inappropriate relationship she had back them. But I’m afraid you’d have to ask her for the details.”

“She never told you?” Kendra asks, she feels comfortable talking to him, it takes her head away from where she actually is and from the nightmares that plague her ever time she closes her eyes.

“No, never. I never cared either. Here was this smart, gorgeous girl that was willing to give me her time. I didn’t really care.” Kendra takes her time noticing him, his look makes her heart swell, she remembers seeing it on her dad’s face when looking at her mom, and she still sees it on her mom’s face when she talks of her dad. It’s the look that makes her believe in true love from time to time, but right now it also makes her feel so guilty. She was fine; here awake talking with Tom while Alex was still unconscious, in a coma. She finds herself wishing she could switch places with Alex.

“Kendra?” his voice makes her head snap, he looks at her worried, apparently she was silent for too long and he had gotten worried. “Are you alright?” he asks her.

“Yeah, yeah I’m just…”

“Tired?” he cuts her off, she wasn’t, not really but she just nods. It’s easier than actually explaining to him everything. He smiles and gives a last squeeze to her hand. “I should let you rest then.” He says.

She nods and watches him walk out of the room when all she wanted to do was scream at him to stay back, because without him the room was silent and a little too dark, and she hates those two things more than anything in the world.

* * *

 

Tom sees the doctor walking out of Alex’s room, and he speeds his steps “Doctor Carson!” he says, the doctor turns around and puts a plastic smile on his face, one that became a little too familiar to Tom these days. “Mr. President.”

“How’s Alex, when she’s gonna wake up?” he asks, he almost expects the answer, that she’ll wake up when she’s ready to but this time his answer shocks him. “Well we’ll try to wake her up tomorrow, she shows normal signs of brain activity and I am hopeful that she will wake up soon.” Tom is shocked, almost too shocked.

“Really?” he asks dumbfound.

“Really Mr. President.” The doctor turns and leaves, Tom finds himself just standing in the middle of the corridor unsure of what exactly to do but just let a deep breath out. It felt as if he was breathing for the first time since Christmas.

* * *

 

The next two days pass agonizing slow, like the doctor said they did try to wake her up the following day but it wasn’t successful, Tom was petrified and ignored Emily when she told him again and again that he had to run the country and stayed in hospital with her. It’s not like he was doing anything, but he found that sitting by her side, holding her hand while reading her favorite book aloud was relaxing enough for him, the nurse told him it was relaxing for Alex too. Tom wants to believe her, he really does, but he's scared to hope. Almost too scared.

* * *

 

“Mike, I’ll have to go back to the White House for a while, could you do me a favor?” Tom asks, Mike looks at him, he studies his face and is sure he won’t like what Tom will ask him. “Go ahead.” He says.

“I want you to stay here with Alex and Kendra. If anything changes call me.” Mike bites the inside of his lip, he wanted to tell him that there’s no way in hell he’ll let him leave this hospital without him, “You’re the only one I trust enough Mike.” He says and the last of mikes resolve breaks. He hates it that this is all he has to do to get him to agree but it is and he does.

* * *

 

Mike goes to see Kendra, she’s sitting on the bed, a book in her hands, she looks up in surprise when she sees him entering, “Mike!”

“President send me.” He says smiling; he sits down on the chair next to her bed.

“Mike, I want to visit the first lady please.” She tells him, she can see him reacting even before he opens his mouth, “Kendra.” She cuts him off putting her hand on his and gripping it as tightly as she could. “Please, just, just for a moment.” She pleads with him, she can see his resolve breaking, “Fine, wait here.” He tells her, it doesn’t take him long to return with a wheelchair, he helps her to sit, careful not to cause her any more damage and starts walking to Alex’s room, they are both silent, he opens the door, Kendra is shocked to see the room empty, she was almost expecting to see Tom sitting there by her side, she remembers clearly when Emily and Seth visited, Emily complaining that he never leaves the hospital, she was worried and nervous that he was spending all his time here, Kendra doesn’t blame her, it can’t be healthy for him to be spending all of his time in a hospital.

“How come the president is not here?” she asks Mike.

“Penny wouldn’t stop crying and asking for her mom.” He says whispering, Kendra nods, this made sense, the only way Tom would be pulled away from Alex at this point is truly if one of their kids demanded his attention. “So he had to go back.” She whispers.

“Yeah.”

Mike stops the wheelchair as closely to the bed as he could and walks out of the room to give Kendra the privacy she wanted. She smiles and turns to Alex taking her hand in hers, “Hey Alex” she barely gets the words out before she can feel the sob forming in her throat and her eyes filling with tears. “I am so sorry, why the hell I would get out of it,” she stops looking around the room, there were flowers, cards and other gifts all over from friends and family, such a stark difference with her own room where a single bouquet from Seth stands withering on a vase and her mother’s stuffed bunny on her bedside table. She had tried really hard to convince her not to fly here, she needed the sun and some time off, last thing she needed was to ruin her first vacations in years. “You shouldn’t spend Christmas on a coma,” she chuckles, today was the last day of the year she hated the idea that Alex would lose the new year as well. She remembers her dad, vaguely waking her up right before the year would change _‘the way the new year finds you is how the rest of the year will go’_ he used to say. She grips Alex’s hand tighter, “Please wake up.” She pleads. She knows it’s not going to change anything but she had to try.

Mike walks in about ten minutes after, “Kendra I got get you back,” he says putting a hand on her shoulder, “the president is on his way back” she looks up, “Ok.” She whispers, it confuses her why Tom coming back meant that she had to leave but makes a mental note to ask Mike later, “Bye Alex, I’ll try and visit soon.” She says and with a last squeeze she lets Alex’s hand back on the bed.

Mike helps her back in her bed, he’s very careful not to hurt her leg any further and she couldn’t be more thankful for that.

“Thank you for letting me visit Alex Mike.” She tells him when she is settled back in her bed.

“No problem.” He stands there, by the door awkwardly, not sure whether or not to leave, Kendra takes the opportunity to talk, she doesn’t know why but there’s something about Mike that makes her feel so much at ease, even more than the president.

“I feel so guilty, I got out of it pretty much unscathed and Alex is in a coma for a week.” She says Mike looks at her; he stays silent for a moment before walking to her side and sitting down next to her on the bed, careful not to touch her injured leg.

“It’s not your fault Kendra, a drunken idiot ran past the barricades and t boned the car. If anything it’s my fault, the secret service failed.” He says his hand clutching hers tightly. Kendra smiles, “Thank you.” She tells him, there’s no reason in particular just because he was there, just because he was him.

“Mike,” she grips his hand tightly as he’s going to stand up Mike turns and sits down again “What?” he asks her.

“Before, you told me you had to get me back because the president is on his way. Why?” Mike chuckles and lowers his head. “He told me to stay here and take care of you both.” He looks up, there’s a smile on his lips “How do you think he would have reacted if he had found out that I let you off the bed with an infection raging?” Kendra looks at him shocked, she didn’t think he’d known, she had managed to keep it a secret, or so she thought. “How do you know?”

“Asked.” She smiles, “Does the president know as well?” Mike gives her a look which screamed ‘What do you think?’

“He does.” She says to herself “That’s why he let you to take care of both of us.”

“Exactly.”

She gives his hand a squeeze she doesn’t know why but he returns it before leaving. They didn’t really need words.

* * *

 

Tom walks to Alex’s room a bit mechanically, it took him over an hour to get Penny to calm down, he doesn’t blame her, she misses Alex but he’s scared, he doesn’t want Penny to see her like that, both Alex and he tried to shield their kids from this ugly part of life, especially since getting to the White House, their whole lives were under the microscope, they didn’t need any more from her own parents no less.

He gets to Alex’s room and stops dead on his tracks when he sees all the people outside. He sees Doctor Carson walking out of the room and immediately walks up to him, “What’s happening?” he asks, almost terrified of the answer.

“We got the first lady off the ventilator.” The doctor tells him, Tom takes a step back, he looks around, Mike is standing guard by Alex’s door with a smirk on his lips, “She is able to breathe on her own.” Tom blinks, he’s not sure what he’s hearing he feels his heart racing but he tries as hard as he can not to get his hopes up it wouldn’t be the first time after all. “Is she waking up?” he asks.

“Probably any hour now.”


	4. Chapter 4

Tom tried really hard to keep his eyes open he really tried but failed, he feels himself drifting off; his head falls on her hand as sleep wins.

Alex opens her eyes, the light is almost blinding her, she closes her eyes and tries to shield them with her hand, one is heavy and see sees the thick white cast on it the other feels weighted down, she turns slowly her head to the side and sees Tom sleeping, using her hand as his pillow. It takes her a few tries to manage to remove her hand from under his head; she carefully runs her fingers through his hair, he doesn’t wake up just groans and buries his face deeper in the duvet. She smiles, “Tom?” she tries shaking him lightly she doesn’t want to scare him so she just lightly nudges him, Tom opens his eyes, he’s lost and puzzled for a moment looking around him in confusion, his eyes fall on her, her blue eyes looking back at him, a smile on her lips, “Alex!” he gasps her name and leans forward, his arms carefully wrapping around her as he kisses her face repeatedly, “I love you, I love you, I love you” he murmurs between kisses, Alex laughs and softly pushes him away, “Tom!” he sits on the bed, a large smile on his face as he clutches her hand tightly, his knuckles are turning white but she doesn’t say anything, she loves the contact more than she was willing to admit. “Tom, what’s going on?” she asks him, he bites his lip and it makes her curious, “What day is it?”

“December 31st.” he says, Alex gasps, a sharp pain takes her breath away, “I lost a week?” she asks masking the pain on her ribs.

“Yeah, I got to go call the doctor.” He says, his smile falling a bit, it was as if his actual responsibilities hit him full force. “Ok.” She tells him letting his hand go, Tom stands up, his feet shaking a bit as he walks to the door, he finds himself unable to open it, he turns around and sees Alex lying on the bed, she’s studying him as if she’s waiting for him to say something.

“I love you.” He tells her, he doesn’t know why it was so difficult for him to find what to tell her, but he remembers the deal he made with god on Christmas the first time he saw her after the accident that he wouldn’t let a day pass by without telling her those three little words, not that they needed them to know how the other was feeling but just so he would never find himself feeling guilty that he didn’t tell her enough how much she meant to him.

Alex smiles, “I love you too.” She tells him, it makes his heart flutter like it did the first time she told him, he remembers it vividly, mostly because she left him a week after that. Every time since then he never took it as granted, and it always gave his heart trouble.

He walks out and closes the door behind him, taking some time to catch his breath, Mike is instantly by his side “What’s going on?” he asks, his hand firmly on his arm. “She’s awake.” Tom manages to get out.

He sees and hears Mike gasp before a large smile forms on his lips. “That’s amazing” he says, Tom can only nod, he knows his friend sees the tears forming in his eyes, tears of pure happiness and relief, “I have to find doctor Carson.” He tells Mike after a couple minutes trying to gather himself.

“Saw him over there at the nurses’ station about five minutes ago, went over that hall.” Mike tells him showing the corridor he had seen the doctor leave. “Thank you Mike.” Tom says before he takes off after the doctor. He sees his figure waiting by the elevators and calls his name, “Doctor! Alex woke up!” he tells him when he gets close enough. The man smiles “That’s great news sir, let’s go.” He says and follows Tom back in Alex’s room, he gets a nurse to follow them and they walk back inside Alex’s room, Tom immediately get’s back to his spot, his hand finding Alex’s in an instant. He can feel the nurse’s irritation with him but he ignores it.

“Mrs. Kirkman how nice you see you awake, how are you feeling ma’am” the doctor asks as he is already checking her oxygen.

“Like I got hit by a truck.” Tom chuckles, this was so her, she turns her head and smirks at him, looking up the doctor is biting his lip as well trying to stop his smile, he takes her arm from Tom’s grip and looks for her pulse on her wrist, “Accurate description, on a level of one to five where’s your pain.” He says taking her pulse.

“I’d say about three.” He lets go of her arm and nods, taking a couple notes on the chart, “Ok, we can get you something for that.” He says nodding to the nurse standing there, “Mr. President could you please give us the room?” he asks, Tom grips Alex’s hand tighter, he doesn’t see any reason whatsoever to leave the room, “Like hell I will.” He says.

“Tom, you should go inform Leo and Penny.” Alex tells him gripping his hand tighter, he looks down on her, his harsh look softening, “You sure?” he asks, her husband making more of an appearance pushing the president in the back once more, “They need to know Tom.” She tells him again.

“Ok, ok I should.” Tom says again, he leans over and gives her a soft kiss on the lips that he’s sure makes the nurse roll her eyes but ignores it before leaving the room.

“Sorry about him.” Alex says when the door behind him has closed, “He’s not the first worried husband we’ve seen ma’am.” The doctor said smiling, the nurse rolled her eyes at these words, “No, just the first with nuclear weapons.” Alex remarks, the woman chuckles, the name on her name tag is Faith, “You’re not wrong on that.” She remarks as she administrates the painkillers the doctor prescribed.

* * *

 

Tom’s hands were shaking as he dialed Eva’s number, “Tom what’s going on?” is the first thing she tells him, Tom smiles widely, “Get Leo and Penny and come to the hospital. Alex woke up.” He tells her, he feels chocking at the end, the excitement just overwhelming him.

“Oh finally!” he hears her say from the other side of the line, “Yeah.” Tom repeats a couple times, he doesn’t know what else to say, his relationship with Eva deterioting in the last week to a point he never imagined, “I’m going to tell them to get ready.” He tells him, Tom is glad she talks because he finds himself not having any words left.

“Thank you.”

* * *

 

Tom goes back to Alex’s room but Mike stops him before he can enter, “Sir, they are not done yet.” He tells him, there’s a small smile on his lips that makes him so much more at ease.

“Oh, I’ll go visit Kendra then, I haven’t been to see her in a few days.” He says, Mike goes to follow him but Tom stops him, “You stay here Mike, you’re the only one I trust right now.” He tells him, Mike nods, and smiles knowingly, Tom is glad that the look of betrayal is gone from his eyes, he hated seeing the other times he asked him to stay behind.

“Ok.” Mike says and turns back to his post by Alex’s door.

Tom walks to Kendra’s room and wonders why is it that sometimes he tries to shelter Mike? Because there had been times when he deliberately he tried to keep Mike away from a situation and he wonders if it was to protect him, he chuckles at the irony, Mike was supposed to be protecting him, not the other way around and yet.

He opens Kendra’s door and walks in, the young woman is lying on the bed, she looks so much sicker than last time he saw her a couple days ago, the doctors informed him of the infection she got on the wound on her leg from the glass of the car.

“Kendra.” He says smiling putting on a brave face and ignoring how badly she looked, “Sir.” A smile breaks on her face; Tom swears it makes her look so much healthier. He looks at her with his best professor look and it makes her chuckle “Tom.”

“How are you feeling?” he asks her taking her hand in his, he notices that there’s a fresh bouquet on her bedside table, this time Lilacs and not the standard roses. It makes him wonder who might have send them, it was definitely someone who took care and noticed that Kendra loves lilacs more of the rest flowers.

“I’m better, the fever is still up, but I’m getting there.” She tells him, “How’s Alex?” Tom smiles widely, “She’s awake.” He informs her it makes her smile as well. “The doctors are with her now they don’t let me in.”

“I wanna see her.” she says almost immediately but she stops, looking down on her leg she says, “But I probably shouldn’t move yet.” Tom’s face grows serious, he knows that Kendra would have liked to see Alex, he knows she wanted to do it since they came in but he doesn’t want her leaving the bed any time soon.

“You shouldn’t.” he tells her, he sees Kendra looking away, “I’ll tell Alex that you are ok.” She looks at him a small weak smile on her lips as her eyes drift to sleep, “Thank you.” She murmurs.

Tom smiles, there’s a knock on the door and he turns to see one of his other agents peeking in, “Sir? The doctors left.” He tells him.

“Thank you James.” Tom says dismissing the man who closes the door behind him, he turns to Kendra whose eyes have opened again, “Have a happy new year Kendra.” He tells her smiling.

“Thank you Tom, Lyor will be coming over to change the year with me.” She says smiling back, “Good.” Tom gives one last squeeze to her hand and leaves; he almost runs to Alex’s room and opens the door to find her this time sitting up, with pillows behind her.

“Hey,” she tells him smiling, Tom walks fast to her and sits down on the bed next to her, this time it’s her who looks for his hand, he grips it and leans forward to place a kiss on her temple. “Hey.”

He doesn’t know why but he touches his forehead on hers, Alex closes her eyes and uses her good hand to wrap around his neck. They stay like that for a few moments before Tom pulls back, “I called your mom; she’s bringing the kids over.”

“Good I want to see them.” Alex wishes she had her camera with her right now; Tom’s look is one she would like to have memorized for eternity.

“They do too, well Penny, Leo’s been visiting almost every day.” He tells her, Alex is taken back, she doesn’t know how to feel with Leo visiting and seeing her the way she was, after all, the doctor informed her of the full extent of her injuries “Oh.”

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Tom says, it makes Alex chuckle, “Just more proof the he is definitely my son.” She sees Tom struggling not to laugh while saying, “Not funny!” it makes her smile, realizing just how much she had missed his smile, this careless happiness, the boyish charm he always had before he became the leader of the free world overnight.

“You laughed.” Tom rolls his eyes. There’s something that is bugging Alex a lot though, “How’s Kendra?” she asks getting it out of her chest. Tom bites his lip, “She’s,” he stops looking away, “She’s still here; she got an infection on her leg wound.” He knows what Alex will say next, he’s almost sure of it, “I wanna see her.”

“Alex!”

“I want to see her Tom!” she says again, Tom stands up, “You can’t move and she can’t either!” he tells her, he knows trying to reason with Alex right now would be futile but for the first time he’s not ready or willing to back down.

“Tom you don’t get it. She wasn’t supposed to be in the same car as me! I asked her.”Alex stops, she tries to collect her thoughts, “She’s here because of me.” Tom stops, he takes a deep breath. He sits down and takes hold of her hand.

“The doctors wouldn’t allow either of you to get out of bed, but I have an idea.” He tells her, Alex looks at him, there’s a small smirk on her lips.  “What idea?” she asks him.

“What if we have Kendra moved here?” he asks her, she sees his uncertainty, even as he was talking, she smiles, “You mean share a room?” she asks him.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

Alex laughs, “Are you kidding me? Of course I don’t.” Tom looks up almost surprised, he remembers clearly a time not long ago that Alex wouldn’t trust Kendra to do even the bare minimum without her there, he’s not sure when this changed and to be honest he wasn’t sure if he liked it either. “That way you’ll be able to go home more often too and not worry about me so much.” She says smirking.

“I go home!” Tom says, Alex looks at him, an eyebrow raised, “That’s why you were sleeping on the chair right?” Tom groans and rolls his eyes that was a part of Alex he had missed the most even though he will never tell her. “Fine!” he says throwing his hands in the air. The two of them smile, Tom stands up and leans over giving Alex a soft kiss on the cheek, “I’ll go tell the nurses.” He tells her leaving the room.

* * *

 

Alex is biting the nails on her good hand, she can almost hear her stylist in the distance screeching about it but she doesn’t really care. The door to her room opens and she expects it to be Tom but to her surprise she sees two nurses bringing Kendra’s bed in the room, she sees the other woman lying there, her leg heavily wrapped, “Hey Kendra!” she tells her when they settle her down next to her.

“Hey.” Kendra says smiling, she was glad this happened, she guessed that the president has something to do with it, if she judges by the thumbs up he gave her while they were passing him by.

“How are you feeling?” Alex asks her.

“Much better now.” She says with a smile on her lips, Alex leans back on her bed smiling back, “What a surprise so do I.”

* * *

 

Tom was waiting for Penny, Leo and Eva in the corridor, he thought giving some time to Alex and Kendra to talk would be appropriate so he didn’t return to the room. Right now though he’s getting impatient and just started pacing up and down. The doors to the elevator open and Penny comes out running, “Penny!” he barely has time to catch her as she almost flies to his arms.

“Hey daddy.” She says kissing his cheek, Tom smiles and let’s her go after squeezing her one last time, he looks up and sees the secret service agents carrying many different flowers, card and balloons.

“What are all those?” he asks.

“We got some gifts for mom.” Leo says smirking, he looks down to Penny who is beaming with happiness “I’m sure she’ll love them.” He says and starts walking with them to Alex and Kendra’s room.

“Well mom is in the same room as Miss Daynes so could we maybe give some of the flowers to her too?” he asks Penny, to his surprise Penny giggles, “No silly I got different presents for Miss Kendra!” she says, Tom chuckled he doesn’t know what he expected of course Penny had come prepared, another part he never realized happening was Penny’s affection for Kendra, when it started and how it blossomed was another mystery to him.

“Of course you did.” He says to himself, he turns to one of Penny’s agents who’s carrying a large stuffed teddy bear and a few balloons, “You handling it there Agent Franklin?” he asks the man who gives him a big smile, “Always sir.” He says, Tom likes the guy, he’s really good with kids even though he’s barely thirty years old and doesn’t have any kids of his own, and he’s also quick on his feet and willing to submit to most of Penny’s whims making him probably the best agent to handle her and the worse influence at the same time.

“You guys go ahead” Tom says standing back, Eva is been throwing daggers at him, he has a clue as of what might have pissed her off this time. Leo takes Penny’s hand and they walk towards the room giving Tom some space.

“Why is my daughter sharing a room with your White House counsel?” she asks, Tom has to admit he is surprised that her voice doesn’t sound as cold as he expected it to sound.

“Because the otherwise she would get up and go see her.” he tells her, finally they went back to the good old relationship apparently, where Tom bites his lip as to not insult her and Eva just wishes her daughter had married anyone but him.

“Hm, that sounds like her.” Eva says smiling, it takes Tom by surprised, he fully expected that she was going to lecture him on exactly why it is his fault that he hasn’t stopped it, he won’t complain though, he’ll take the small victories.

* * *

 

Alex and Kendra didn’t have to say much, they were just content to know the other was alright apparently. When the door flew open and Penny barged in followed by Leo Kendra was almost asleep but her eyes open widely at the sound of the happy voices, bringing a smile to her lips.

“Mom!” Leo leans over and gives his mom a kiss on the cheek, Alex smiles, he pulls back fast before she can ruffle his hair like she always did, but Alex still had time to pinch his cheek.

“Mommy!” Penny climbs with ease on Alex’s bed.

“Hey.” Alex hugs Penny tightly; she notices how the little girl was careful not to touch her leg which was still on the cast or squeeze her too tight, she suspects that either Tom or her mom or Leo had warned her. “Leo.” She pulls Leo closer with her good arm still keeping her other arm around Penny. “I love you mom.” He whispered. “I love you too honey.” Alex kissed his head and got comfortable on the bed. Penny crawls carefully to the other side of the bed and tells agent Franklin to give her the some of the flowers the other agents were carrying, the man had already left the teddy bear on the chair by the door and the balloons next to it, he places some of the white roses and gives them to Alex, “These are for you mommy!” she says with a large smile, Alex takes the flowers and looks around the room, “All of them?” she asks showing some of the other items brought inside.

“Yeah.” Penny says, “Well kinda.” Penny gets up and walks to Kendra who was watching the whole ordeal with a small smile on her lips, “Miss Kendra?” Penny says, she’s holding a rather large bouquet of red roses with to everyone’s surprise some blue peaking through as well. Alex bites her lip, she knows Penny probably had to beg and or bully the White House florist for his precious blue roses.

“Hey Penny.” Kendra says with a smile, it shocks her a bit she almost had forgotten to smile with all the nightmares every time she closed her eyes.

“These are for you!” she says giving her the flowers, “You brought me flowers?” Kendra asks, she tries really hard to mask her surprise but some still escapes her, she sees the flashing worry on Alex and Tom’s eyes but tries to ignore it. “And a card?” she says seeing the handmade card hanging from a beautiful royal blue ribbon.

“I made it myself.” She says proudly. “Thank you so much!” Kendra leans down and gives Penny a small kiss on the cheek; pulling back she can see the proud smile on her face. “They are so beautiful.” Kendra says smelling the roses on her lap, she carefully places them on her bedside table along with the card so she can see them all the time. She doesn’t know why but for the first time in a week she realizes that telling her mom to stay in Florida might not have been such a smart thing after all. Her friends were amazing and they all did a great job trying to keep her company but it was still an extremely lonely week.

The door flies open and Lyor barges in, he looks disheveled, and worried, “Kendra!” he almost yells walking in he seemed not to have noticed the other people in the room, he stops by her bed when he notices the flowers on her bedside table and turns around, “Oh, Mr. President, Ma’am.” Alex smirks and waves at Lyor who to Kendra’s surprise starts blushing on his neck. “I’m glad to see you awake.” He says Kendra can tell he’s biting the inside of his cheek.

“Thank you Lyor. I’m sorry if we gave you some hard time finding Kendra.” Alex says smiling, Kendra is almost surprised to see that the president was already sitting next to her on the bed and that the other woman was using him as a pillow maybe that would explain Lyor’s blushing; he wasn’t so used with _that_ side of the Kirkmans.

“No problem at all.” He says smiling awkwardly, “I guess I’ll have to share some of this” he says raising a bottle of his disgusting sweet tea.

Tom looks at the bottle and barely managed to keep his disgust to himself, he accepted Lyor’s offer once and he spend the next hour convinced that his political director tried to poison him.

“No need Lyor. You can enjoy it.” He says trying to save the others in the room from the horror of Lyor’s sweet tea.

* * *

 

Tom looks at his watch and is shocked to see that there only was ten minutes left to this year, he turns to Alex she’s leaning against his shoulder seeing Penny with Leo’s help beating Lyor in scrabble smiling, “Ten minutes left” Tom says, she looks at him smiling “This year,” she breaths out, the smile falling a bit from her lips “I thought it would never end.” Tom cups her face, “Me too.” He breaths out “This year sucked.” Alex smiles, she looks at his profile, so much had happened to them both every since they first met, he was just seventeen and she was twelve, she remembers some of the girls in her class talking of the newcomer, shy and alone, not having a lot of friends, she also remembers finding him bleeding between the high school and the middle school building just a month before graduating _“Don’t worry, I’m used to it.”_ He told her wiping the blood from his split lip, he never stopped smiling and it stuck with her all those years. She also remembers seeing him again when she was sixteen, her prom date was kissing with some other girl and she was sitting outside the ballroom, he pulled up with his bike and caught her crying and smoking her first cigarette. _“I remember you”_ He told her, scaring her almost. _“You’re the girl that found me behind the high school building three years ago”_ she was shocked he remembered her. he spend the night with her, driving her back home, salvaging that way what would otherwise be a horrible prom, she was shocked to see the sweet and shy kid she remembered look so different, and he did, he had a mullet to her surprise, leather pants and jacket, an earring on his left ear. She remembers spending that night looking at his profile and what she realizes now is that it hasn’t changed so much, not in her eyes at least. Sure his hair were shorter and a little darker and he lost the earring somewhere along the way, and sure he dresses more in suits these days and not so much in leather pants and jackets but he’s still the same underneath it all. “What are you thinking?” he asks her pulling her back from her daydream.

“Nothing, just,”

“Reminiscing of the past?” he asks her smirking, “Or the future.” She tells him smiling.

“Oy! It’s time!”  Leo says when he sees the TV in the room showing the countdown on Times Square. They counted to one, the fireworks popping at a distance, a chorus of “Happy new year!” filled the room as they all started kissing and hugging each other wishing and hoping for a better year than the one they had so far.

“Happy new year baby.” Tom whispers to her ear, Alex smiles and leans back kissing his cheek close to his ear, “Happy new year to you as well Mr. President.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Time almost flew them by, the next week was a little bit of a blur, people coming in and out, Aaron was the first to visit right the next morning, bringing over some of the leftover food his family forced him to take with him, Hannah visited the same day as well, she brought over some flowers and a cake Chuck had made, she sat around for a while, the three of them talking about nothing and everything at the same time. Emily and Seth visited the next day, they came by bringing some potted plants, Kendra later told her she was useless taking care of one and gave both to Tom to take to the White House florist, he would sure appreciate them and it was a nice gift after what Alex was sure, was Penny going through his precious flowers and picking whatever she liked.

Kendra’s mom, Victoria, barged in the room, the day after Seth and Emily visited, she looked tanned and didn’t let either of them to get a word in, before either Kendra or Alex knew she had left with Eva both of them murmuring under their breath about their daughters that will send them to an early grave.

But there was still something bothering Alex, something in Kendra was different, at first she just thought it was the infection and the pain she was surely in, but as the days went by and the infection was getting better she started wondering what that might be.

“What’s bothering you?” she takes the courage to ask her. Kendra looks at her, there's a haunted look on her eyes, Alex sees her resolve slowly breaking and crumbling.

“What is it?” Kendra looks away trying to hide the tears which were still visible rolling down her face.

“You met my mom right?” Alex chuckles, of course she did, Victoria Daynes is not one to be forgotten “I’m pretty sure she moved in with my mother.”

“When I was ten,” she stops and takes a deep breath, her thoughts are foggy right now, she’s not sure where to begin, “I am not an only child, I have,” she abruptly stops herself, once again confusing her tenses “I had an older brother, he was ten years older than me and he died when I was ten.” Alex gasps, she leans to Kendra and takes her hand in hers, glad that they had Mike move the beds closer, “I’m so sorry to hear about that.”

“He had a virus, I don’t remember much my mom doesn’t like to talk about it and I never asked for more, but he let go untreated and when he did go to the doctor it was too late, his fever was too high and he fell into a coma, he never woke up. They diagnosed him brain dead on December 10th 1989 and we pulled the plug the same day. He was in a coma for almost a month, right after my tenth birthday, that’s the last time I saw him alive.” Alex bites her lip, she tries really hard to hide her tears but can’t really. “On the way back from the hospital my dad was driving and um.” She stops and feels Alex’s grip on her hand tightening “A drunk driver t-boned our car. My dad died instantly, my mom was injured but survived and I was paralyzed from the waist down, doctors gave me about a twenty percent chance of walking, I proved them wrong.” Alex looks at her, she couldn’t keep the tears back, she thought that there was something bothering her but she didn’t think that would be it. “I lost my dad and my brother the same day.”

“And this brought back memories didn’t?” Alex asks, Kendra turns to her and smiles sadly.

“It did.”

“What were their names?” Alex asks, she sees Kendra biting her lip. “My brother was Adam Colin Daynes, and my dad was Thomas, my mom called him Tommy and he hated it.” Alex bites her lip, “Does Tom know about that?” she asks.

“No.” she nods, “He better not find out.” Kendra smiles for the first time since this conversation started happily, “Why?”

“Cause he’ll imprint on you, like he did on Mike or Emily, he has this thing, just,” Alex stops and rolls her eyes, “Adopts his staff from dysfunctional and or broken families?” she says, the two of them start laughing, in a perfect circle from tears to laughter and back.

* * *

 

They spent the rest of the day fairly quietly, Leo came over around lunch joking that he had tied Tom in his chair to keep him from coming over, they three of them had a fun time, Leo started telling them about school, about graduating, it was a nice change, one they both needed, it made them forget the heavy morning they had, and almost forget where they were altogether.

* * *

 

Three days had passed since Kendra talked to Alex about her past, the two of them were stuck in the hospital watching an interview Tom had given to Lester Holt, when Kendra out of nowhere said “He’s freaking ripped!” Alex couldn’t stop the laughter, “I know right, he’s not too hard on the eyes is he?”

“Not really my type, but I would hit that,” she turns to Alex “If he wasn’t married.” She quickly adds.

“Wait till you see him naked” Alex jokes, Kendra takes her eyes from the TV and turns to the other woman, “You have any pictures?” she asks, her interest spiking. Alex smirks “What do you think?” she says taking her phone from the bedside table. She scrolls through her pictures with a smile on her lips “You want a naked one don’t you?” she says biting her lower lip, “Well you mentioned it!” Alex finds the picture she was looking for and gives the phone to Kendra “Here’s a recent one!” Kendra takes the phone and almost drops it when she sees the picture, none other than the president sleeping naked hugging three stuffed animals with a  smirk on his lips, she gasps when she notices the tattoos on his arm “He has four tattoos?” she asks in shock, “Well, four are visible.” Alex says smirking; Kendra leaves the phone down “How many he has in general?”

“Nine.”

“Wow!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys!!! let me know what you think of this chapter!!!


	6. Chapter 6

“So you’re leaving me you traitor.” Alex says watching Kendra pack her bag, she had recovered much faster than the doctors thought and was ready to go home, Alex on the other hand had to stay around for at least another week until her ribs heal completely.

“You’ll be released soon too!” Kendra says laughing; the two of them had become almost dangerously close in the past few months “Still.” Alex complains crossing her arms the best she could over her chest. At least she was going to get rid of her casts today which meant she could go to the bathroom without needing help.

“Oh come on Alex you’ll be out of here before you even know it.” Kendra tells her, Alex smiles and reaches from Kendra’s hand, “Just rest ok.” She tells her new friend. Kendra smiles and takes her jacket from her bed, “Of course.” She says although they both know she won’t really.

* * *

 

Tom is hesitating going in he’s just standing outside of Alex’s room, something that Leo told him weeks ago came over him again, he remembers it vividly, his son’s words ringing in his head. He knew deep down that Alex wasn’t so happy with their new situation; she didn’t enjoy the first lady duties as much as she enjoyed going out and being in court, she wasn’t the type to dress up and measure her thoughts, but he never thought it reached as far as hatred. He takes a deep breath and walks in there’s no reason to avoid the truth any longer, he needs to ask her, after all this isn’t just his life it’s their life.

“Hey baby.” She tells him looking up from her book a big smile on her lips. “Hey.” Tom sits down on the chair by her bed, he tries to act normal, as if nothing was wrong but he knows she understands there’s something wrong with him.

“How are you today?” he asks trying to break the uncomfortable silence, she smirks, “I wanna go home.” She tells him, Tom laughs and looks at the empty bed next to Alex, “Kendra’s gone huh?” she smiles and nods, “I never noticed how dull hospitals are.” She comments.

“Now you see why I couldn’t wait to get out of it.” Alex looks at him Tom looks at her look throwing daggers to him “You were shot!” she says, Tom sits back and crosses his arms over his chest, a mischievous smirk on his lips, “And you were in a car accident.” Alex rolls her eyes “Semantics.” She murmurs under her breathe.

Alex looks at Tom, the laugh coming from his lips sounds forced, it takes her a bit by surprise, Tom wasn’t one to fake a laugh when he was with her, he was always comfortable enough around her to not laugh when he didn’t feel like laughing. “What’s wrong?” she asks him, he chuckles; it’s week and barely audible but it comes out of his lips. His head hangs low, “Leo told me something, the night of the accident.” He takes a deep breath, he needs to face her, “Do you really hate the White House?” he asks her, Alex smiles and looks away for a moment, Tom just clutches her hand giving her all the time she needs.

“Yes.” She says, and although Tom expected the answer still took his breath away. Tom opens his mouth, he doesn’t know what to say exactly but he feels the need to say something, anything. “Not for the reason you think though.” She says clutching his hand, Tom looks up, there’s a smile on her lips that takes him by surprise. “I don’t hate the idea of us living in the White House. I don’t hate the building in general.” Her answer has him intrigued, “We still use Richmond’s furniture, for crying out loud we’re still sleeping in his bed!” Tom looks down, he never really cared about that, he never thought about the fact that almost all the furniture in their new home were not theirs. “I feel like a hitchhiker in my own home.” She says, her voice low, Tom looks at her, her blue eyes looking at him, he finds himself captivated in them, “Like I’ll come upstairs after going to the office and find the doors locked and our staff on the lawn.”

“It doesn’t feel like home.” Tom admits, he needs to admit it that he had felt like not being at home as well, he tried to ignore it and their hectic life styles helped him ignore a lot of things, but now, sitting next to her bed, Alex still recovering from a car accident, he can’t stop thinking how right she was.

“We brought our stuff, our clothes, our books, our sheets and pillows, our photo frames but in essence we’re still using someone else’s furniture.” She tells him, Tom smiles sadly, it was true, he never thought it would bother her but it was true. “You already feel like temporary tenant in the White House, you know you’ll leave eventually, but this gets it to a whole new level.”

“We should get new things.” He whispers, it’s all he can do to break the silence between them that just overtook the air between them. Alex smiles and cups his cheek, “Tom, the elections are in November.” She reminds him, he doesn’t say anything for a while, Alex wonders if she read all his signals right, but the longer he stays unresponsive the more she wonders.

“They are.” He simply says.

* * *

 

Kendra goes to the White House, everything seems to be going much slower than she remembers, she still is using her cane and walks slower herself so the new pace matches hers. She walks aimlessly in the building, doesn’t know where she wants to be, she already got what she wanted from her desk but at the same time she dreaded going back to her empty apartment, she thinks of visiting Lyor but he wasn’t there, so right now she found herself just aimlessly wandering around the west wing.

Pacing by Emily’s office she sees the other woman inside sitting on her chair leaning back. “Hey Em!” Kendra says. Emily opens her eyes and swiftly plasters a smile on her lips. “Hey Kendra. Couldn’t stay away I see?” she jokes, Kendra laughs and sits down across from her “Nope, the apartment was too dull for me.”

“Well here is as well.” She says, Kendra hears the tone of distain in her voice, “What’s going on Emily?” she asks concerned, she knows that Emily is bearing the burden with Tom gone so often to be with Alex and probably this starts weighting her down. “He’s always gone Kendra! I’m his chief of staff not the president.” Kendra smirks, she was right after all, Emily started feeling the burden of covering up for the president “How about a VP has he thought about anyone?” she asks.

Emily chuckles “I’d wish! He barely cares about his first state of the union address Kendra, and that’s in a month!”

“Yikes.” Kendra says smiling. Emily looks up and her nervous face starts forming a smile. “Thank you for listening.” She says, “Wanna ride home?” she asks.

Kendra takes her cane and stands up “No thanks Em, I’ll go check on Lyor.” Emily smiles and nods before Kendra turns around to leave something  bothers her about Emily’s behavior and under any other situation she might have actually comforted her about it, she guesses they all are under stress after the accident so she lets it slide, even though a little voice in her head is screaming for her not to.


	7. Chapter 7

To say that Tom was shocked when he woke up in the living room to Penny sitting in front of him was an understatement, “Penny! You should be at school!” he says “I woke you up right?” he asks, these past few days he found himself exhausted, between taking care of the kids, running the country and visiting Alex he was working himself to death. “You did.” Penny says, he notices the look on her face, he can recognize it too well, Trey had the same look every time he did some mischief and wanted him to take the blame for. “Then?” he asks her, Penny reaches for her back bag and pulls out an envelope “I got send home.” She says. Tom takes the envelope, this must be a nightmare, he opens and reads the letter inside, “What happened Penny?” he asks her, he wants her to tell him the truth, what exactly happened. Penny looks away; she bites her lip, a trait she got from Alex. “Nothing,” she says, Tom smiles and pats the place next to him on the couch, Penny comes and sits down next to him.

“Penny you got send back from school. With a note that talks about a fight.” He tells her, Penny looks up “Another fight.” He mentions again, he looks at her looking down avoiding his sight, it makes him feel so lost, “Talk to me little pea.” He begs.

“There was this kid that was teasing my friend George because his mom is not home often.” She says, Tom is puzzled he remembers Penny vaguely talking about a boy named George in her class that she befriended but he was dealing with the return of Patrick Lloyd in the country at the time and apparently didn’t pay much attention because he finds himself not remembering anything at all right now.

“So you hit the other kid because of that?” he asks, Penny looks at him “George’s mom is a politician too, she’s not home often, like you’re not home often but that’s not because you don’t love me, just like George’s mom is not away because she doesn’t love him.” she says and Tom feels like getting shot again, “Of course not sweetheart.” He says taking Penny’s hand in his. “Ok listen to me, no more fighting ok?” Penny tries to complain but Tom cuts her off, “Penny please, we do not solve our issues with violence alright?” he asks her, she bites her lip “Ok.” She says looking down. “Am I grounded?” Tom smiles and wraps his arms tightly around her, “Not this time.”

* * *

 

Alex turns off the TV there’s nothing even borderline interesting for her to watch today. Looking at the clock Leo and Penny are probably home by now so it’s at least another two hours before they visit. She is shocked when the door opens and Leo walks in the room, “Hey mom!” he says leaning over giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Leo!” she gives him a kiss back and makes some way so he can sit on the bed next to her. “Are you straight from school?” she asks him noticing the back bag he left on the foot of the bed.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He tells her, there’s a spark in his eyes that intrigues her.

“About what?” she asks him, Leo smirks “I think I know what I want to do.” He says. Alex looks at him; her eyes wide open in shock “Really?” she asks him surprised, she thought he wasn’t sure of what he wanted to do.

“Yeah, I wanna be a lawyer like you.” He says, Alex bites her lip, she wants to cry but she refuses to, “Oh.” She manages to simply say, Leo looks at her, there’s a worried look on his eyes, “Come here.” She tells him opening her arms, Leo smiles widely and sits down next to her wrapping his arms around her shoulders carefully. “My baby grew up before I even realized it.” She tells him, Leo smiles and pulls back reaching for the bag he had discarded on the chair next to the bed. “So you’re gonna help me with these?” he asks pulling a folder filled with brochures from his bag.

“Of course.”

* * *

 

Leo stayed for an hour before leaving to go back home, not long after that Tom came over, Alex notices he was hovering a lot more these days, she wasn’t bothered by it, at first, but now it’s starting to piss her off.

“Tom you’re hovering again.” She tells him, Tom looks at her; he tries to put his best innocent look “Yeah.” He tells her.

“Go home, please.” Alex tells him, she sees him pouting, “No I don’t want to leave you alone.” She smiles and reaches for his hand. “Tom you have country to run, go home now!” she orders him, Tom groans and tries to bite time, “But Alex.” He starts to complain, it takes all Alex has not to laugh at the look on his face, “You can come back tonight, no sooner than 9 p.m.!” she says caving.

“Fine.” Tom says, he’s still pouting and she finds it adorable, she sees him move around gracefully picking up his coat, “I love you.” He tells her leaning over and placing a soft kiss on her lips.

“Love you too,” she tells him when he pulls back, she uses her hand to cup his check her other hand just recently released from the cast wrapped around his neck, “you big dork.” She teases him.

Tom narrows his eyes, “Don’t call me that!” he tells her pulling back, he walks to the exit hearing her laughter fill the space behind him.

* * *

 

Kendra peaks her head through the door, “Hey,” she says smiling, Alex looks up from her book and smiles back, “Kendra!” he tells her happily, waving to the other woman to come in.

“Where’s the president.” Kendra asks sitting down on her old bed which was still left in the room, she suspects for Tom since he rarely if ever spend the night in the White House anymore.

“Kicked him out.” Alex says smiling, crossing her hands over her chest. Kendra throws her head back, her laughter filling the room, “Forgot he had a country to run again?” Kendra jokes leaning back on the bed making herself comfortable. “Yeah.” Alex responds, a smirk on her lips is all Kendra needs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a slightly happier chapter, after the terrible news about Designated Survivor I think we all need it. 
> 
> You can help save Designated Survivor please go on FB TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM and follow @savedesignated (Save-Designated-Survivor for FB) for regular updates
> 
> KEEP USING THE HASHTAGS #SAVEDESIGNATEDSURVIVOR AND #DESIGNATEDSURVIVOR again and again we need to get more attention on the show if we want to get it back on air

Alex couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital, she was sitting on the bed looking around the room, her time in this room had changed her a lot. She doesn’t know how much of it is positive and how much is negative she’s sure she’ll find out Tom walks in the room, he has her bag in his hands and a large smile on his face “Time to go home.” He tells her, Alex smiles widely and stands up taking his hand “Wait.” Tom says, Alex takes a step back, she looks at him questionably. “I want to give you something.” He says, he leaves her bag on the bed and reaches inside his jacket taking out a small black leather box. “What’s that?” she asks him. Tom smiles and opens the box taking out two white gold rings “Your old wedding band and engagement ring couldn’t be fixed after the accident, so I thought,” he takes her hand in his putting the two delicate rings on her finger, “Tom.”

“Shh.” He stops her from saying anything, “I know you don’t like it when I spend money on gifts for you, but,” he stops taking a deep breath “I think after nearly eighteen years I’ve earned the right to.”

Alex smiles and takes his extended arm, she hadn’t noticed but Mike had already taken the bag from the bed and started walking towards the exit. She took her time thanking the doctors and nurses on the staff that took care of her and bared with Tom’s overprotectivness all the time, she was handling everything very well until the moment to enter the car came, she was thinking about it, wondering how she could enter the SUV again without freaking out and to her surprise there was a familiar looking Cadillac waiting for them there. “Is this the beast?” she asks Tom.

“Yeah, secret service finally managed to get the founding they needed to get the car ready.” Tom says with a big smile on his face, she is surprised she didn’t think he could keep something as big a secret but he did. “They work fast I’ll give them that.” Tom smirks but says nothing. He waits for her to enter the car, Mike holds the door open for both of them.

“Well how did they get it done so fast?” she asks again, “Secret service had this car, as a reserve or something, they just needed some small upgrades so it would serve as the main presidential vehicle.” He says, Alex looks at him puzzled she remembers pretty clearly that Mike said all the reserves were destroyed in the explosion “Mike?” she asks, Tom chuckles from next to her, “Well ma’am we have large and small motorcades, small are the ones inside the city and in other small cities where there are only two duplicate cars in larger cities and or so called danger zones we have a three duplicate cars, this was the third car, it had all the armored plating the original beast had and some of the defense mechanisms we just needed some small things added and it is now identical to the vehicle lost in the explosion.” Mike says smirking, she could see it reflecting on the glass.

“You didn’t trust me?” Tom says faking a hurt look on his face “Mike knows more about this issue than you.” She simply says.

They get to the White House in a really short time, Alex notices how all the roads are closed off by barricades and police cars she wonders how much of this hustle is happening because of the car accident she had but decides not to ask Mike about it. Tom had mentioned how Mike had taken the accident harder than the rest of the security detail and possibly their friends upping all security measures on all the protectees following the incident.

Penny and Leo are in school so Alex has time to settle in she feels her ankle bothering her so she chooses to lay down on the bed instead of waiting up.

“Finally!” she says as soon as she hits the mattress, Tom stands by the bathroom door leaning on the wall next to the window smiling. “Home sweet home huh?” he jokes, Alex smirks, “Yeah.” She says.

“You want any help?” he asks her, “No, I’ll just go to sleep for a while. Forgot what’s it’s like sleeping on a normal mattress.” Alex just buries her face deeper in her pillow enjoying the sense of the soft mattress under her.

“Ok. I’ll leave you to it then.” Tom says, he leans over planning on giving her a small kiss on the cheek but she turns and wraps her arm around his neck kissing his lips instead.

“I love you.” She mutters under her breath she can sense his smile against her skin before she can see it when he pulls back, his eyes focusing on hers.

“Love you too.”

* * *

 

She doesn’t remember much of her first day back home, just fleeting images, the kids coming back from school, all three of them eating lunch together, taking a walk in the rose garden having Tom join her when he catches glimpse of her from the oval office windows, sitting together at the patio outside the oval having a snack together, it was one of those rare January days that the sun was high and there wasn’t that much snow left from the snow storm that hit D.C. at the beginning of December.

Waking up the next day she is surprised to see Tom still in bed with her, he was awake his head propped up by his hand starring at her sleeping, she never figured out his fascination with watching her sleep but she doesn’t mind it that much, with years she learned to bare with it.

“Morning.” She murmurs burring her face in her pillow trying to avoid the sun peeking through the curtains. “Morning.” He tells her, they get up together, to her surprise he had gotten the kids ready for school on his own and had prepared breakfast for both of them. But it wasn’t long until he had to leave for the office and Alex found herself staring at the four walls of the living room with nothing to do. Her laptop was there, starring at her from across the coffee table but she realizes that she doesn’t have anything to do, now that her and her mother’s legal troubles were over she didn’t have any reason to stay hidden in her private office in the residence and build a case. She takes a deep breath and walks in her closet; looking at her business suits she feels a sweet melancholia over the fact that she won’t wear them for a long time.

As she stares at the various items of clothes she used to wear at her previous job she remembers something her colleague, Doug told her all those months ago _“You are the first lady now.”_ She never thought of it as anything more than a figure head a nice picture meant to pretty up the president, and thinking back she has trouble remembering the last time a first lady was so extremely political, Abbey Bartlet was the last she remembers but it didn’t turn out so well for her either, she was forced to give up her medical license and was the butt of the joke for months if not years. Not to mention the attacks she got for the skinny jeans and shirts she used to wear. But still looking back she is considered one of the most popular first ladies that there had been in modern history. She took on initiatives that she loved and saw them through.

She quickly changes out of her sweatpants and shirt and puts on one of her business suits and goes straight to the east wing. She remembers getting the key to the office when they moved in the White House telling her it’s her office but she never actually did anything with it, Tyler had taken all of his mother’s furniture opening the door she comes face to face with practically a blank canvas an empty office with just a heavy mahogany desk that Abbey Bartlet had left in the White House and a chair. A nice heirloom passing down from first lady to first lady, a nice reminder that you are never alone in this situation because there were others before you, Alex runs her fingers over the nicely varnished wood wondering of all the women before her that used the very same office and those still to come. There was a nice leather chair there as well, she walks and sits down, looking up she sees the large double door that leads to the corridor, behind her the sun is burning her neck, outside it was freezing cold but inside all she could feel was the warmth filtered through the large windows behind her.

Looking around at the blank canvas ideas start jumbling in her mind of what she can do with it, she definitely should add some more furniture, maybe a nice couch and table, books in the bookcase in the corner, maybe add a rug on the sitting area, she smiles leaning back on her chair, surprised that she thinks of it as her chair.

Chuckling she decides to start staffing up her own staff, all those efforts to make sure Tom had what he needed and who he needed to run the country made her forget her own staff that needed people in it starting with a chief of staff.

* * *

 

Tom leans on his desk taking deep breaths he had just dismissed his therapist, he knew that Alex would be upset, she was when he fired his first therapist as well. He doesn’t know what exactly it was that made him do it. He tries to justified that the doctor told him he was better, a tiny voice in his head screaming that better didn’t mean alright but he was shutting it up as best as he could.

Looking at his calendar in front of him he takes a deep breath and walks in the oval office, it was as if the walls around him were suffocating him and he needed a bigger place to breathe.

* * *

 

Alex gets back to the residence she is about to meet with her therapist for the first time, the butler came and informed her that she was already waiting for her in the living room, she stops outside the room taking a couple deep breaths before walking in.

A woman in her forties was standing by the large half moon shaped window “Mrs. Kirkman!” she says when she heard her walking in the room “Alex please, you must be Dr. Roberts.” Alex says shaking the other woman’s hand.

“Yes. Where would you be more comfortable to be for this to start?” she asks, Alex has no idea, “Let’s look around.” She suggests. The two of them take the staircase to the third floor where the most unoccupied rooms were. Alex opens the door to one of the rooms in the back of the building and sees an old room, a crossover between a living room and a storage, “This looks nice and clean.” She mentions “Yeah.” The doctor mentions, “The tiling is ugly though.”

Alex laughs “We can cover that up.” She says walking in the room and closing the door behind the other woman.

* * *

 

Soon after finishing with her therapist Alex found herself back in her office in the east wing, she got Lisa and Daniel to help her move some of her books and picture frames she had stored in boxes from her old office there. She had just finished decorating when there was a soft knock on the door, “Come in” she says over her shoulder preoccupied with the flowers she got from the White House florist. “Hey.” She turns around seeing her friend stand there, a large smile on her face, “Kendra!” she calls out in happiness, Alex walks to the other side of the desk and wraps Kendra in a light hug.

“Hey, I thought about visiting.” She says pulling back, Alex leads them to the sitting area, “You did good! It’s so nice seeing you.”

“Yeah you too.” Kendra mentions with a smile on her lips, “I was surprised to hear that you are here.” She says showing the room around them, Alex smiles and lowers her head nodding, “Yeah, can’t keep hiding from the reality.” She says

“No you can’t.” Kendra adds under her breath, Alex wonders what that might mean but lets it slide. “I guess the first session went well.” Kendra says, it’s more of a statement than a question, she doesn’t need to ask after all Alex was in an office she hated decorating it, so it must have been.

“Yeah.” Alex says smiling, she didn’t expect it but it did, it truly went well, it was hard and emotional and exhausting at times but it was cathartic. “It did.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Tom you shouldn’t have fired him!” she tells him, she is stunned to hear that Tom fired another therapist to be honest with herself she almost expected it to happen.

“He wasn’t good Alex. I didn’t trust him.” he says through the closet, Alex breathes out hiding her face in her hands, “Fine, but you have to find another.” She says after a while, Tom walks out of the closet in his sweatpants, she sees him roll his eyes, “Tom I’m worried.” Tom smiles and walks to the bed taking her hands in his “I’m fine.” He tells her smiling he walks to his side of the bed and pulls the covers down. “I completed the mandatory sessions my staff wanted, that’s why I fired him.” he tells her after settling down, “He just wanted more paychecks.”

Alex looks at him, she’s still not sure if she believes him or not, she gets into bed herself, tom already wrapping his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer, “If you say so.” She tells him, Tom looks at her, a smile on his lips trying to mask the fears that were boiling under the surface, “I do. Trust me I’m fine.” He doesn’t know who he tries to reassure first, Alex or himself. “If I’m not you’ll tell me right?” he asks, Alex looks up a smirk on her lips, “You bet your ass I will.” She tells him.

* * *

 

“Something is bothering you today?” Alex looks up, Dr. Roberts is looking at her worried, Alex smiles and shakes her head, “Yeah, there’s, my husband dismissed his therapist, says that he’s fine and that he finished the mandatory sessions but I’m worried about him.” she mentions, the doctor smiles and nods, “Has his behavior changed?” she asks, Alex stops and looks at her hands, she can’t say he changed, there wasn’t something that should be worrying her but she can’t help but be worried.

“No, not really. He hovers a bit more, but that’s normal of Tom.” She says, she knows that this doesn’t mean anything is wrong with him, she knows that just because he hovers more doesn’t mean he’s changing. “I’m just worried about him, so many things happened in the last year and I don’t know how he’s handling it.” She mentions, she doesn’t know what exactly to say, what else to say.

“I get it. From what you told me, your husband was never one to talk much about his past and traumas he suffered. Am I right?” she asks, Alex looks up she realizes that Tom, for all his care for others and his good listening skills he’s not a good talker, “Yeah, I still don’t know much about his childhood to be honest. Just that it wasn’t the best.” She admits a bit embarrassed it was weird; it made her wonder why after knowing each other for over twenty years he still hasn’t talked to her about his childhood.

“So I suggest that you should be patient with him, he’ll need someone to hear him out, a sounding board if you’d like. You should be ready.” Alex looks at the doctor, she stops and smiles, “He’s the type that doesn’t open up to strangers, apparently he’s willing to harm himself for others, he’s willing to go to any length to take care of others but rarely accepts help for himself.” Alex feels a small sting at the word strangers, but the doctor soon keeps talking, “He trusts you though, so if he reaches out for help at some point it will be to you.” Alex smiles and nods, she thinks about it and wonders when this reaching out will happen, she doesn’t know when exactly but she agrees with the doctor that she wants to be ready.

* * *

 

Alex decides to go to the west wing instead of going back to her office, she goes straight to the oval but Tom isn’t there, walking outside she almost pumps onto Kendra, “Kendra!” Kendra looks up from her phone and a large smile forms on her lips.

“Hey, you’re looking for the president?” she asks, “He has a cabinet meeting.” She says, Alex smiles and nods “Oh well” Alex says smiling, she turns to Kendra “They finally let you back in the building?” she asks.

“Yup.” Kendra responds proudly, she shows her flat shoes saying “I just can’t wear heels.”

“I have a feeling it will be a long time before either of us wears heels again.” Alex mentions showing Kendra her just as flat shoes. Kendra throws her head back laughing loudly. “True.”

“Do you have any time to get lunch with me?” Alex asks, Kendra smiles widely and follows Alex “I will make some!”

* * *

 

Alex returns to the residence minutes before Tom she had just taken her shoes off when Tom walked in the room humming under his breath, “Don’t you look exited!” she mentions, Tom turns and looks at her a bright smile on his lips, “Yes I am.” He mentions, he walks to her and takes her hands in his, “You’re never gonna believe it.” He tells her a boyish smile on his lips and a spark in his eyes, “We struck a deal on Cuba.” Alex looks at him shocked; “No!” she says Tom’s smile remains firmly on his lips, “Really?”

“Yes!” she looks at him he’s so exited he’s barely keeping himself from screaming, she has seen that look only a few times in their life together, “That’s the beginning of a new era Alex!” he says, she wraps her arms around his neck, “It is.” She whispers against his neck, pulling back she takes his face in her hands. “And you started it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! this is the last chapter of this story. Until next time have fun!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!


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